Tweet the Meeple

Older Reviews

There once was an onmyo master, a teller of fortune and summoner of spirits. This onmyo master had two children, both thinking only they deserve to inherit his title. And so the two children fight, with the spirits they summon, over who is the greater summoner and thus deserving of the title. That’s the short story behind the Onitama, an abstract game that barely takes longer than telling its story.

With the amazing, ongoing success of cooperative game Pandemic, it’s no surprise that there are not only a number of expansions but also a few spin-off games with a similar theme and sharing the name. Pandemic: The Cure is one such game, it recreates the classic Pandemic as a dice game: lighter and faster but with all the original’s elements still there.

Of all the animals out there, rats and their fleas are the only ones that managed to bring humanity to something that could have become an extinction event: the Black Death. Rattus lets you relive those fun days in the Middle Ages.

In a city where the law is nothing but letters in a book, where not only city hall but even the police itself are under the control of rivaling gangs, in a city where everyone with a bit of importance is wearing a fedora – that’s where you play Mafia City.

Not the newest game we reviewed recently, Race for the Galaxy was first published in 2007. It’s still a very good and popular game, though and with the new expansion Alien Artifacts coming later this year now is a good time to have a look at it.

Asara, the city of spires. The Caliph has called 4 famous architects to give the city more spires, higher spires, more colourful spires. In only four years, we are to fill the city with soaring towers, but funds and workers are limited.

Collecting gems to buy cards that are worth gems, making it easier to buy more cards. When thus summarized, Spiel des Jahres nominee Splendor doesn’t sound like much. But once you start playing, you will realize that games don’t have to sound complicated to draw you in, make you play again and again, try new approaches to outsmart your opponents. Because playing Splendor is not a difficult, but getting what you want with your opponents interfering is.

German cities tend to have a long and eventful history. Germany is also one of the origins of modern boardgames. It comes as little surprise that many German cities have already been used as setting for boardgames. Cologne has Colonia, Hamburg Hamburgum, Trier Porta Nigra, and the list goes on. One city not so blessed so far is Ulm. Until now, that is, because now there is Ulm, a medium heavy strategy game Günter Burkhardt designed around the city.